Elderly people

My wife's Dad called us up a few months ago with a 277 cholesterol.
His doctor told him that "he must cut it down." His doctor didn't
want to put him on cholesterol lowering medications (due to the
side effects), and "suggested that he read labels."
I was really disappointed with that advice...not that "reading
labels is a bad idea...we all do. The problem I had is that
two minutes with an elderly patient--trying to teach them how
to reduce their cholesterol--is absolutely useless.
Dad lives by himself, and goes out to restaurants (in Ft.
Lauderdale) most of the time. His kitchen is terrible. He
has nothing in it.
HOW DOES ONE TEACH AN 85 YEAR OLD MAN WHO LIVES ALONE IN AN
APARTMENT IN FLORIDA HOW TO EAT LOW FAT?
Well, we went down to visit him and I lectured him for hours
on the subject. I was a real pain, I'm sure. But I love Dad
and I think it is worth the effort to try to have him improve
his health. We tried to get him to some VLF restuarants that
I took off the internet.
The ones we tried were a disaster. One we went to served
a beautiful vegetarian dish that had at least two cups of
oil on it--no kidding. Even though we stressed "no oil" in
advance. I know there are some readers who have suggested
restaurants in Florida, but we didn't have any luck.
The bigger issue here is how does one help elderly people
with this problem. Some might argue that for elderly people it is
OK to eat fat (their philosphy being that if they die they die).
I'm sorry. I just can't stomach that. As a doctor, I don't
have any patience with people who discount elderly people.
Since we visited, and to Dad's immense credit he's lost over
15 lbs and even though his cholesterol isn't down yet, I think
it will eventually improve.
(Dr.) Mike Rosenblatt
podtrst@xxxxxxxxxxxx
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